As promised, here are some keyboard shortcuts which might prove to be useful to you.
1. StickyKeys - Press SHIFT 5 times in a row - Allows SHIFT, CTRL, ALT, or Windows logo key to be pressed one at a time.
2. FilterKeys - Hold SHIFT for 8s - Brief or repeated keystrokes will be ignored.
3. ToggleKeys - Hold NUM LOCK for 5s - Tones will be played when CAPS LOCK, NUM LOCK or SCROLL LOCK is pressed.
4. Mousekeys - ALT + SHIFT + NUMLOCK - Allows cursor to be controlled with numeric pad on keyboard (useful when your mouse doesn't work properly).
-Shilin
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Why I Blog
I blog because, in my opinion, a blog is a more modern and technologically advanced form of a journal or diary. Like a diary, blogging allows me to express my ideas and thoughts in a creative manner. However, the advantage a blog has over diaries is its ability to accommodate multimedia. I am able to post relevant photos, music and links to other websites. This enhances my writing experience and provides opportunities to better express myself.
Blogging is also an effective platform of communication. Journals and diaries only allow for one to pen down his thoughts and views, but sometimes the much-needed viewpoints of other people are missing. Blogs, on the other hand, allow for two-way communication between the author and the viewers. They are open for the public to view if bloggers allow and features like the Tag Box and the comment option allow for viewers with differing viewpoints to post their thoughts. Through this exchange of ideas, I can broaden my scope on certain matters and think in ways never thought of before.
Blogging, in a way, is also a means to socialise. Friends are able to see what I am up to everyday and keep in touch. By viewing the online journals of other bloggers, I can discover people with common interests and increase my social circle.
I blog also to keep a record of interesting experiences. Memorable events would not be forgotten with the passing of time and I can look back and recollect those events in vivid detail with the aid of photos and online videos.
-Shilin
Monday, January 25, 2010
My Personal Blog Policy
1. I will write all blog entries in proper English. All entries will have proper grammar, spelling and punctuation.
2. I will not swear or curse in any form.
3. I will not not post content which might be considered offensive to people of a different race, gender or religion.
4. I will not post personal information such as my contact number.
5. I will always pause to think of the consequences before posting anything.
6. I will only post about things I want other people to know.
7. I will respect people with differing viewpoints.
8. I will show awareness for intellectual property and cite external sources and unoriginal work in the appropriate manner.
2. I will not swear or curse in any form.
3. I will not not post content which might be considered offensive to people of a different race, gender or religion.
4. I will not post personal information such as my contact number.
5. I will always pause to think of the consequences before posting anything.
6. I will only post about things I want other people to know.
7. I will respect people with differing viewpoints.
8. I will show awareness for intellectual property and cite external sources and unoriginal work in the appropriate manner.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
First Post for the New Year
Hi everyone, this is my first post for the new year and I will be briefly introducing how I have revised my blog.
In this revamped blog, I have changed the layout and colour scheme, as you might have noticed. The dull white is made history and green will be the new colour of my blog. I would also be putting up extra features such as a jukebox, so you might want to look out for them.
Content-wise, there would also be improvements. I would no longer post boring information about major pandemics in the world and lots of other uninteresting things. Instead, I will be blogging on interesting experiences and recollections more often. Occasionally, I will be post useful stuff to know like keyboard shortcuts and the history of blogs. In other words, my blog would be more personalised and more appealing (hopefully) to readers.
In case you haven't noticed (which is highly unlikely), my blog has a new slogan - "Life is a Rollercoaster Ride".
That will be all for my first post, I guess. Bye!
-Shilin
In this revamped blog, I have changed the layout and colour scheme, as you might have noticed. The dull white is made history and green will be the new colour of my blog. I would also be putting up extra features such as a jukebox, so you might want to look out for them.
Content-wise, there would also be improvements. I would no longer post boring information about major pandemics in the world and lots of other uninteresting things. Instead, I will be blogging on interesting experiences and recollections more often. Occasionally, I will be post useful stuff to know like keyboard shortcuts and the history of blogs. In other words, my blog would be more personalised and more appealing (hopefully) to readers.
In case you haven't noticed (which is highly unlikely), my blog has a new slogan - "Life is a Rollercoaster Ride".
That will be all for my first post, I guess. Bye!
-Shilin
Monday, June 29, 2009
Favourite poet
My favourte poet is Robert Frost and in this post, I shall be explaining why and also provide some biographical information about him, including the events which affected his style of writing poetry.
Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 - January 29, 1963) was born in San Francisco, California and he was a student at Harvard university. He had to drop out of school before he was able to obtain a formal degree due to ill health. He married Elinor Miriam White (1872-1938) , one of his schoolmates at Harvard, in 1895 and had six children.
Throughout his life, he experienced many tragedies, which included the death of his father when he was 11 years old and the deaths of two of his children and his wife. These memories filled with grief were reflected in some details of his works sometimes. Home Burial, which is one of his more notable works, described how a couple tries to cope with the death of their child, with the grief and frustration of not being able to come to terms with each other, eventually resulting in their parting. His emotions of losing his own child were largely depicted in the poem and bear many similarities to the feelings of the couple.
He also had a love for nature and a passion for describing the rural landscape of New England vividly. An example of such a poem was Going for Water, which describes how two children went to fetch water at a brook and the magnificence of the stream under the moonlight.
In my opinion, a large part of his poems chronicle the different turning points in his life, also his perception towards life itself. Quoting Frost, "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life — It goes on". Although one, when reading his poems, may not immediately see it, proper inference-drawing would make the message conceived through his poems clear. The most obvious being the one in the poem The Road Not Taken. It talks about decision-making in life and how things cannot be undone once a choice is made ("Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back").
Here are the three poems which I have randomly chosen, out of all the ones which he has written. I did not include the poem itself, as I think that it is unnecessary for me to do so. You can look them up on Google if you are really interested.
The Road Not Taken: To be really honest, this is the poem which I like best so far. The interpretation is mentioned above so I will not repeat myself.
Fire and Ice: This poem examines how the world will end in, whether in fire, which represents desire, or ice, which represents hate.
Nothing Gold Can Stay: This poem is trying to tell the readers that there is nothing in the world that will will remain untarnished forever, which is what the title implies ("...Her hardest hue to hold...But only so an hour...Nothing gold can stay").
Sources:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192
http://www.online-literature.com/frost/
Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 - January 29, 1963) was born in San Francisco, California and he was a student at Harvard university. He had to drop out of school before he was able to obtain a formal degree due to ill health. He married Elinor Miriam White (1872-1938) , one of his schoolmates at Harvard, in 1895 and had six children.
Throughout his life, he experienced many tragedies, which included the death of his father when he was 11 years old and the deaths of two of his children and his wife. These memories filled with grief were reflected in some details of his works sometimes. Home Burial, which is one of his more notable works, described how a couple tries to cope with the death of their child, with the grief and frustration of not being able to come to terms with each other, eventually resulting in their parting. His emotions of losing his own child were largely depicted in the poem and bear many similarities to the feelings of the couple.
He also had a love for nature and a passion for describing the rural landscape of New England vividly. An example of such a poem was Going for Water, which describes how two children went to fetch water at a brook and the magnificence of the stream under the moonlight.
In my opinion, a large part of his poems chronicle the different turning points in his life, also his perception towards life itself. Quoting Frost, "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life — It goes on". Although one, when reading his poems, may not immediately see it, proper inference-drawing would make the message conceived through his poems clear. The most obvious being the one in the poem The Road Not Taken. It talks about decision-making in life and how things cannot be undone once a choice is made ("Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back").
Here are the three poems which I have randomly chosen, out of all the ones which he has written. I did not include the poem itself, as I think that it is unnecessary for me to do so. You can look them up on Google if you are really interested.
The Road Not Taken: To be really honest, this is the poem which I like best so far. The interpretation is mentioned above so I will not repeat myself.
Fire and Ice: This poem examines how the world will end in, whether in fire, which represents desire, or ice, which represents hate.
Nothing Gold Can Stay: This poem is trying to tell the readers that there is nothing in the world that will will remain untarnished forever, which is what the title implies ("...Her hardest hue to hold...But only so an hour...Nothing gold can stay").
Sources:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192
http://www.online-literature.com/frost/
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Going for water - Robert Frost
Going for water by Robert Frost
The well was dry beside the door,
And so we went with pail and can
Across the fields behind the house
To seek the brook if still it ran;
Not loth to have excuse to go,
Because the autumn eve was fair
(Though chill), because the fields were ours,
And by the brook our woods were there.
We ran as if to meet the moon
That slowly dawned behind the trees,
The barren boughs without the leaves,
Without the birds, without the breeze.
But once within the wood, we paused
Like gnomes that hid us from the moon,
Ready to run to hiding new
With laughter when she found us soon.
Each laid on other a staying hand
To listen ere we dared to look,
And in the hush we joined to make
We heard, we knew we heard the brook.
A note as from a single place,
A slender tinkling fall that made
Now drops that floated on the pool
Like pearls, and now a silver blade.
"As if to meet the moon", "like gnomes that hid us from the moon" and "now a silver blade" are examples of similes, one of the forms of figurative language. Robert Frost used the two similes to depict the two children who were going to fetch water from a brook (a stream) as mischievous youths ("gnomes") who enjoy playing under the moon. He used the third one to describe the fascinating appearance of the brook in the moonlight, which he said was a "a silver blade".
I like this poem because it is a simple one, and it allows you to appreciate the beauty of the language used without reading between the lines and ponder the deeper meening, which is what many poets love to let the readers do. Sometimes, these poems turn me off as my frustration mounts when I am unable to understand them fully. Looking at Going for Water, you would realise that the poem is rather elegant. Instead of putting everything in crude laymen's terms, the poet masterly uses language which is more subtle and slightly more difficult to understand. The details of the whole process of going to the brook and finallly reaching there are also outlined very vividly. At any rate, Going for Water is a splendid poem and reading it was rather enjoyable.
The well was dry beside the door,
And so we went with pail and can
Across the fields behind the house
To seek the brook if still it ran;
Not loth to have excuse to go,
Because the autumn eve was fair
(Though chill), because the fields were ours,
And by the brook our woods were there.
We ran as if to meet the moon
That slowly dawned behind the trees,
The barren boughs without the leaves,
Without the birds, without the breeze.
But once within the wood, we paused
Like gnomes that hid us from the moon,
Ready to run to hiding new
With laughter when she found us soon.
Each laid on other a staying hand
To listen ere we dared to look,
And in the hush we joined to make
We heard, we knew we heard the brook.
A note as from a single place,
A slender tinkling fall that made
Now drops that floated on the pool
Like pearls, and now a silver blade.
"As if to meet the moon", "like gnomes that hid us from the moon" and "now a silver blade" are examples of similes, one of the forms of figurative language. Robert Frost used the two similes to depict the two children who were going to fetch water from a brook (a stream) as mischievous youths ("gnomes") who enjoy playing under the moon. He used the third one to describe the fascinating appearance of the brook in the moonlight, which he said was a "a silver blade".
I like this poem because it is a simple one, and it allows you to appreciate the beauty of the language used without reading between the lines and ponder the deeper meening, which is what many poets love to let the readers do. Sometimes, these poems turn me off as my frustration mounts when I am unable to understand them fully. Looking at Going for Water, you would realise that the poem is rather elegant. Instead of putting everything in crude laymen's terms, the poet masterly uses language which is more subtle and slightly more difficult to understand. The details of the whole process of going to the brook and finallly reaching there are also outlined very vividly. At any rate, Going for Water is a splendid poem and reading it was rather enjoyable.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Flu pandemics
According to multiple online sources, other than the current H1N1 'swine' flue, notable pandemics which occurred recently were the 1918 Spanish flu, the 1957 Asian flu and the 1968 Hong Kong flu. I shall be describing each of the 3 pandemics briefly.
The Spanish flu was a severe pandemic that spread globally, affecting even minor countries. About 50 - 100 million people were killed in this pandemic. It had an infection rate of 50% and killed about 1/5 of the infected. Earlier, before the flu was discovered, patients infected with the Spanish flu were diagnosed as having dengue or other diseases which had similar symptoms. The most distinctive symptom of the flu was bleeding from parts of the body which produced mucous, such as the nose. The origins of the flu were unknown, but some speculated that it originated from China.
The Asian flu pandemic was actually a type of avian flu which originated from China. Online sources state that the flu was actually developed from a mutation of the flu virus in wild ducks, which then quickly spread to humans. It affected mainly Asian countries, but reached the US very quickly. It spread to Singapore by about February 1957. About 1-4 million were killed in this pandemic.
The Hong Kong flu pandemic involved from a flu, which developed genetically from another category of flu virus. The flu originated from Hong Kong and spread globally, killing approximately 1 million.
By the way, an epidemic is a disease which is widespread throughout a locality (you could think of a locality as a relatively insignificant area, as compared to a country or a continent). A pandemic is an epidemic on a large scale.
The Spanish flu was a severe pandemic that spread globally, affecting even minor countries. About 50 - 100 million people were killed in this pandemic. It had an infection rate of 50% and killed about 1/5 of the infected. Earlier, before the flu was discovered, patients infected with the Spanish flu were diagnosed as having dengue or other diseases which had similar symptoms. The most distinctive symptom of the flu was bleeding from parts of the body which produced mucous, such as the nose. The origins of the flu were unknown, but some speculated that it originated from China.
The Asian flu pandemic was actually a type of avian flu which originated from China. Online sources state that the flu was actually developed from a mutation of the flu virus in wild ducks, which then quickly spread to humans. It affected mainly Asian countries, but reached the US very quickly. It spread to Singapore by about February 1957. About 1-4 million were killed in this pandemic.
The Hong Kong flu pandemic involved from a flu, which developed genetically from another category of flu virus. The flu originated from Hong Kong and spread globally, killing approximately 1 million.
By the way, an epidemic is a disease which is widespread throughout a locality (you could think of a locality as a relatively insignificant area, as compared to a country or a continent). A pandemic is an epidemic on a large scale.
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